Macbeth vs. Genesis 3
Most people would never even consider Shakespearian plays resembling stories from the Bible, but this may actually be the case with Macbeth and chapter three of the Book of Genesis. Macbeth is a story of greed, sin, and betrayal, which are concepts extremely similar to those from the story of ‘Original Sin.’ Chapter three of Genesis tells of the tale of Adam and Eve and their betrayal of God, otherwise known as the story of ‘Original Sin.’ Adam and Eve’s story is the basis of all sin, and all fables that include wrongdoings. One obvious similarity between the two tales are the antagonists. The serpent is the antagonist in Genesis, as he coerces Eve into betraying God, and her husband. To convince Eve to commit
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Through her actions, Eve brought about their destruction. Similar to Eve, Lady Macbeth, after learning of the prophecies, decided to take matters into her own hands to ensure that Macbeth would become king; “Hie thee hither,/ That I may pour my spirits in thine ear/ And chastise with the valor of my tongue/ All that impedes thee from the golden round,” (Macbeth, Act I, Scene V, Lines 28-31). Lady Macbeth compelled her husband into killing the, then, current king, King Duncan, so he would be able to take his place. Macbeth followed his wife’s advice, as he was letting his greed for power overrule his morals, which eventually led to his and his wife’s demise. These characters each led their spouse astray and brought consequences on themselves and on their husbands. All of the events in these stories led to the inevitable doom of the characters. In other words, the characters’ actions ricocheted back and impacted their lives negatively. These impacts, in both stories, affect the characters’ daily lives monumentally. In Genesis, Adam and Eve, after eating from the tree of life, became aware of their nakedness, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves,” (Genesis 3:7). After making their own clothes, the couple
There is a strong connection between the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and Adam and Eve. Genesis chapter 3, and the play ‘Macbeth’, have very similar storylines. They both have a man and a woman, who are associated with prominent individuals. They hear of a way, or prophecy which would acquire them to a higher status. In both instances, they go against God in a sever way, and are punished accordingly. In Genesis, the serpent said to the woman, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). Here Eve is just a mere human, but is tricked into disobeying God’s only rule by believing she would become like God by eating the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve commit a serious crime against God, and are punished justly. In ‘Macbeth’, Macbeth is given a prophecy by the witches, who say, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (‘Macbeth’, I, iii, 50-52). Macbeth takes this prophecy and follows it, by means of killing King Duncan, so that he could become king. Macbeth, like Adam and Eve, commits a serious act against God, and are punished with death. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are taken from their world, just as Adam and Eve were banished from their garden. There are visible links between the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and Adam and Eve. The majority of which is in their actions,
Most people would never even consider Shakespearian plays resembling stories from the Bible, but this may actually be the case with MacBeth and chapter three of the Book of Genesis. MacBeth is a story of greed, sin, and betrayal, which are concept extremely similar to those from the story of ‘Original Sin.’ Chapter three of Genesis tells of the tale of Adam and Eve and their betrayal of God, otherwise known as the story of ‘Original Sin.’ Adam and Eve’s story is the basis of all sin, and all fables that include wrongdoings.
Women are known to love and care for their husband, but Lady Macbeth was the complete opposite and as well as, being equally responsible for her husband’s downfall. As a result, she overran Macbeth, played a part in killing the King, and in the end went insane from committing the act.
How is Betrayal used in Genesis III and Macbeth? In Genesis III, God told Adam and Eve they can eat from any tree in the garden of Eden but not the forbidden tree. Once he left them in the garden, a serpent came up and convinced Eve to eat the fruit and then she convinced her husband. They both betrayed God into eating the forbidden fruit. In Macbeth, he betrayed King Duncan his Ally. When he was a guest in the house he murdered him, only
Macbeth and his friend Banquo wandered into talking to three witches. The three witches tell Macbeth he’s going to be king, but they also tell Banquo that his children will be in the royalty line. Macbeth takes interest in the possibility of being a king, but he doesn’t pursue with any actions until his wife finds out about the prophecies. Once Lady Macbeth found out, she constantly built ambition upon her husband. To become king, Macbeth first had to kill Duncan. Macbeth killed Duncan and was filled with remorse and regret, but his wife was basically the one under
Murder. Vengeance. Betrayal. Shakespeare. All words people likely associate with Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Few, probably, think of the Bible, but as Thomas C. Foster points out in How To Read Literature Like A Professor if it seems familiar, it is probably from the Bible (or Shakespeare himself). Although not blatantly referenced, Biblical allusions can be found all throughout Macbeth including the Rule of Threes, the last supper and the Judas betrayal, and the influence of a women on men.
Both of the stories have many similar character archetypes. Both of the stories show how the character have flaws, they are not perfect. Also both stories have the same theme. To be happy with what they have. Gilgamesh wanted immortality and Adam ate the apple that God said not to eat (Beers). After Gilgamesh decided to go find immortality,
Lady Macbeth is the main perpetrator in this story from simply stirring the pot to pushing her husband into murder and putting him in positions he would of never been in if not for her. Her husband, Macbeth, starts the story as a wealthy Thane who has just made a big leap economically and socially by becoming the Thane of Cawdor. After this huge leap of power for Macbeth his wife suddenly realizes that she could get used to this new lifestyle and hatches a plan after eating with the current king. Lady macbeth plans to assassinate the King and convinces her husband to go along with it. When lady macbeth says “Alack, I am afraid they have awaked, And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed, Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled”(2,2,22) it is the first evidence she is slowly becoming corrupt by having
The only reason Macbeth kills Duncan is because of his greed and desire for more power. Some people blame his deceivious wife because it seems like she has Macbeth under her spell, but why would a king follow the ambitions of his wife. The wife may have only been there to push Macbeth to do what he always wanted to achieve; power. Hence, she is only an instigator. Macbeth’s hamartia took him from this valiant warrior and loyal friend to a murderous tyrant who kills not only Duncan, but his best friend and his enemy’s wife and children; a murderer of men, women, and
These witches tell the two soldiers their fate- “All hail, Macbeth! Hail thee, Thane of Glamis! /All hail, Macbeth! Hail thee, Thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter./” (Act. 1, scene 3, 51-53) The three witches then proclaim that all of Banquo’ sons will be kings. Macbeth is shocked by this and tells his crazy wife, Lady Macbeth. She has the idea of killing of the person that is king right now, King Duncan. Macbeth’s ambition for king and Lady Macbeth’s madness drives him to do this horrible deed and blame it on Duncan’s servants. After the killing, there are two sides to the story- the two people who conspired the murder, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. First, let's talk about Lady Macbeth. When hearing the news that the witches have told Macbeth that he will become king, she wants it to happen now. She wants to become queen now instead of waiting and letting fate take over- like the witches prophesied. When she decided that she wanted to take fate into her own hands, her life became a downward spiral from her guilty conscious. Throughout the first four acts, she is seen as this strong, stable character who is just power hungry. Then her guilty conscious took over. In Act 5, Scene One, she is seen sleepwalking and saying “who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?”, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”, and “Here’s the smell of the blood
“I think women rule the world and no man has ever done anything that a woman either hasn’t allowed him to do or encouraged him to do.” (Bob Dylan). When the curtain falls on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, events have not gone as Macbeth had initially anticipated following his first encounter with the three witches. Although they foretold a favourable future for Macbeth, declaring him the eventual King of Scotland, Malcolm is now in power and Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are dead. Macbeth is ultimately to blame for his actions, however Lady Macbeth largely contributed to her husband's downfall by using tactics such as indirect and direct manipulation, driven by her own ambition, to influence the course of his destiny.
Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth after hearing the witches prophecy “great prediction of noble having and of royal hope”. Lady Macbeth sets on her best to achieve her new goal of royalty. The way she does this is by manipulating macbeth into killing the current king, Duncan. She first does this by demoralizing Macbeth by comparing him to a cat. “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor”.”And like
In the beginning of the play ‘Macbeth’, Macbeth is shown as a kind man, the only time he had ever killed was when he was in battle. Macbeth was kind and loyal to King Duncan and followed the Kings commandments. Macbeth was then awarded with the title of ‘the Thane of Cawdor.’ This gives Macbeth a boost of confidence. With this new confidence boost in mind Macbeth becomes very ambitious. At this point of the play Macbeth does not yet have a lust for power, what drives to become a ‘power hungry tyrant’ is his wife Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth put ideas into Macbeth’s head, which changed the way he thought about certain things. Macbeth would never even think of the thought of killing the King, but was now considering it. By killing King Duncan,
Shakespeare is at it again, this time creating a confusing yet overrated remake of the Bible’s story “The creation and the fall”, in the book of Genesis. Shakespeare’s story Macbeth is literally an over exaggerated and confusing story that made me lose interest within 5 minutes of the book. Macbeth is a failed attempt and should be a crime for making an embarrassment of the book of Genesis.
Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide. At the beginning of